Heat Defender Dale Ervine Knows His Sport Inside and Out : Soccer: In the winter, he plays for the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League, then switches to the outdoor season.
Dale Ervine has succeed in doing what most American athletes only dream about: making a living competing in his sport. And you might say he has done it by mastering his sport--inside and out.
Sunday afternoon at 4, Ervine and the Los Angeles Heat will play at West Torrance High in an American Professional Soccer League West match against the Arizona Condors.
In two months he’ll rejoin the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Indoor soccer. Outdoor soccer. Though diverse, Ervine has done well at both.
“They are two completely different forms of soccer,” said Ervine, who attended North Torrance High and UCLA. “The only similarities are that you play with a ball and a goal.”
Ervine, who admits to being a soccer purist who favors the traditional outdoor form, does see benefits in playing indoors.
“Indoors helps you with your outdoor game because you get used to working in tight spaces. So when you go back to playing outdoors, your space control is improved on that larger field.”
Nationally, he said, soccer suffers because Americans do not have an official outdoor league. They see only indoor games on cable TV.
“Right now, the indoor game is the highest form of professional soccer in this country. There is nothing outdoors on the same level.”
Ervine discovered that quickly in Wichita, where indoor soccer is popular during winter. The arena, with a capacity of 9,500, has sold out for Wings games. The outdoor Heat’s largest crowd this season has been slightly more than 1,100.
“We have great fan support there,” Ervine said of his adopted city in Kansas. “There are TV stations. We are better known, and it’s very enjoyable.”
A year-round schedule might tire professionals in other sports, but to Ervine, 26, who was born in Ireland, and others who double up, it is a matter of survival.
“Ninety percent of the indoors players play outdoor soccer in the summer to compensate (their salaries).”
Irvine said he will reevaluate his situation with the Wings after next season. Will he return to the Heat, as well? A big factor may be the next World Cup, which will be held in 1994 in the United States.
The U.S. Soccer Federation is expected to sponsor professional outdoor leagues to promote interest in the game and to provide competition for American players, possibly by 1992. That would leave the door open for top players to sign year-round contracts to play both versions of the game with the same team. And some of the indoor clubs, Ervine says, may go outdoors altogether to capitalize on expected World Cup excitement.
Ervine began playing organized soccer at 4 when he snuck onto a youth team in North Torrance and has since been no stranger to success. He was a first-team CIF Southern Section choice for two seasons at North Torrance, and was selected to the All-American team his senior year.
In 1982-85 he led UCLA in scoring and was captain of the Bruins’ NCAA championship team in his senior season. Twice he was named an All-American.
Wichita made him its No. 1 draft pick in 1986 and Ervine hasn’t been a disappointment. He was runner-up for the league’s rookie of the year award. In the 1988-89 season he set career bests in goals, assists, points and game-winning goals.
He got a late start with the Heat this season, not joining the team until June because the Wings advanced to the finals of the indoor soccer league.
Because he is playing a defensive position for the Heat, Ervine’s scoring opportunities have been limited, though he did pick up an assist in last week’s 2-1 loss to San Francisco. To Heat Coach Bobby Sibbald, that proves how valuable a player Ervine is.
“I think he is one of the players who should have been on the U.S. National Team,” Sibbald said. “He is an experienced player. The U.S. had a lot of young, inexperienced players in the World Cup.”
At 6-foot-1, Ervine is a powerful player who can send the ball 70 yards in the air with a lightning-quick kick. In soccer terms, he has “a big foot.” That ability comes in handy in the indoor league because the game moves so much faster.
Only six players play per side indoors, as opposed to 11 outdoors. The “field” is about the size of an ice-hockey rink and balls can be played off the boards. Outdoor fields, which vary slightly, are approximately the size of a football field.
The struggling Heat (7-8), a team that some feel is the most-talented in the APSL, has fallen into last place in the Southern Division and takes a three-game losing streak into Sunday’s game. Only five games remain, all against division opponents. Is it panic time yet?
“It seems like the first goal for us is difficult to get,” Ervine said. If we can get it early then things seem to flow for us. If not, we struggle.
“When you’re losing, everyone on the team is a good coach. Everyone has the reason why you are losing. At some point, you just have to stop the talking and go out and play.”
